December 19th, was our 3 year wedding anniversary! We just had a laid back anniversary this year.


I took F.B. to see The Hobbit for his anniversary gift. We didn't get home until close to 1am. (The movie wasn't my cup of tea... and it's very long, 3 hours!) We went Tuesday evening and the movies are quite empty on a weeknight!


We decided to stay home on our anniversary and order Chinese Takeout from one of my favorite places, King Wok. (We got an updated menu and it looks like they only sell Chinese now, no more Japanese. The picture below is of their old menu). We ordered so much food though, I think we have leftovers for 3 days now! :-)


So let's talk about immigration again. They received our paperwork and sent F.B. a notice. The paper he received is his 1 year extension. He also got his biometrics appointment for January 10th. Where he gets fingerprinted and his photo taken for his new permanent resident card.

But... our lawyer said the USCIS Vermont center is so backlogged with paperwork it is taking 8 months to 1 YEAR to process paperwork. So we will not know if F.B.'s conditional status removal was approved and he will not receive his new updated resident card for up to 1 year....

I asked our lawyer what happens if it takes Immigration longer than 1 year to process our paperwork and she said in that case his status would be extended but he would have to go to a USCIS center with his I-797 notice and his passport to have it stamped for an addtional year.

Immigration is just so complicated. I thought we were almost done and had no idea it could take 8 months to 1 year to receive his new resident card. Wow... Ugh...

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

To leave off on a more positive note here is a few of our Christmas Decorations!

Our "Christmas" door. It's already green, so the bow works, lol!

These are our Christmas trees. :-)

Christmas sock monkeys! Just a few of the holidays stuffed animals I have.

Hurricane Sandy is wreaking havoc all up up the Northeastern United States. It's much worse in coastal areas, but Philadelphia has been affected as well.

Picture from NASA

Sunday afternoon after reading reports online my husband & I thought it might be a good idea to pick some candles up and another larger flashlight (we only have mini travel ones), so we went out in the afternoon on Sunday. I was thinking... okay maybe there will only be really expensive flashlights left. What we saw stunned us...


This was Target. There were NO flashlights left except that tiny travel one hanging there. In fact we went to Home Depot and 4 other stores and there were NO flashlights. We ended up stopping at my Dad's to borrow a larger flashlight. Only thing with that was... we couldn't find extra D batteries at the stores ANYWHERE. Most of the stores only had Double AA batteries left. So we've got some candles, and 2 mini flashlights and a larger flashlight and praying the power doesn't go out.

My job was closed Monday and it's now also officially closed for Tuesday. (I will still get paid). It's insane, because I work for the Government and they never like to shut down, so to be closed for two days in a row is just crazy. Philadelphia closed schools, city offices, they have shut down ALL public transportation. The airport is shut down and even some of the highways & bridges have been shut down. Stores and businesses are closed.

At this point (Almost 10pm here), the rain & flooding are not especially bad in Philadelphia. What's worse is the wind. We have 44+ MPH winds in Philadelphia right now. They are quite scary. Rattling the windows, etc. Our gutter line & drainage pipe completely ripped off and was laying on the lawn in front of our apartment building. Unfortunately a piece of the gutter is still hanging in front of our bedroom window and keeps banging & scraping against the window, it's quite scary. The worst of this hurricane will be through tonight and into tomorrow.


Prayers & Thoughts for everyone that has been affected by Hurricane Sandy.

• List of Transportation Closures in Philadelphia. 
• 6abc.com's Hurricane Sandy resource guide 

Tuesday Afternoon: Piece of the gutter that ripped off our apartment building last night during the storm. There's 3 pieces laying down on the lawn and a mini piece still dangling near our living room window.

American Red Cross Donations

 

F.B. & I got to see an NBA game on Saturday here in Philadelphia. We got to go watch the 76ers play against Orlando Magic. I got the tickets for F.B. as his Valentines Day gift. He loves basketball, but he's never gotten to see an NBA game live, until now. We did get to watch a Philippine basketball game together in 2008.



I've never been to an NBA game either. It was super crowded and our seats were really high up, but you could still see the game pretty well. We did decide to leave at halftime though since the game started at 8pm. We wanted to beat the traffic. (Good thing we left early anyhow, the Sixers lost! They had been in the lead before halftime). We went to IHOP around 10pm and had a late dinner. (Yum pancakes!)

We had a quiet Easter dinner at home this evening. I cooked a roast beef in the crock pot and we had it along with onions and mushrooms. We also had baked potatoes & green bean casserole. Yum!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Pandora Radio has been bad for me. I'll get a song stuck in my head and I then I have to go looking on Amazon.com for the song so I can buy it, (because of course Pandora won't play it again right away!) So I've accumulated a mix called my 'Train Commute Mix', that I listen to sometimes during my one hour commute to work, when I'm not listening to Pandora.

I thought I'd share my playlist and what I'm listening to lately. It's got a little of everything. Some are older songs and some are new. (You can click the links to preview the songs on Amazon).

1. I Don't Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem)- Good Charlotte  

2. Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)- Kelly Clarkson   

3. Part Of Me- Katy Perry

4. Blow- Ke$ha   

5. I Kissed A Girl- Katy Perry

6. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)- Katy Perry

7. Teenage Dream- Katy Perry   

8. Firework- Katy Perry

9. Hey, Soul Sister- Train   

10. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

11. Here Is Gone - Goo Goo Dolls   

12. Jumper- Third Eye Blind   

13. Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind   

14. Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind

15. Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)- Nine Days

16. Buddy Holly- Weezer   

17. Island In The Sun- Weezer   

18. Faint- Linkin Park

19. Shadow Of The Day- Linkin Park   

20. Leave Out All The Rest- Linkin Park   

(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!) 

P.S. I'm still on bedrest, but I'm feeling much better than I did last week. Last Fri-Mon I was in horrible pain with my back and I needed help from my husband just to get out of bed to use the bathroom. I'm still sore, but the steroids are definitely working and I should be back at work on Monday. I need to get a little pillow from Walmart so I can put it behind my back. Our office chairs are uncomfortable.

I hurt my lower back again end of the last week. :-( Ever since I hurt my back in November/December 2010, I've had issues with it. My back is always sore at the end of my work day and commute home. And now I've re-injured it...

I was lucky to get into my doctor this morning around 10:30am. He has me on methylprednisolone & extra strength Tylenol. I took the same medicine when I injured my back before and I remember the steroids were like a magic drug and that the pain went away pretty fast. Right now it's really painful for me to sit/stand/walk, etc. I have horrible pain when I have to roll over or get out of bed too. Ugh. Hoping I feel better soon!

My doctor wants me on light bed rest all week. (I can only get up to shower/bathroom or get a meal). I really didn't have a lot of leave left at work, so it looks like a few of the days I will have to use leave without pay... which really really sucks.

I made Pancit Canton tonight with some of the goodies I bought from Phil-Am Foods. (Pancit in the Philippines, reminds me of American/Chinese lo mein in the USA.) 

No carrots in our version though, they aren't my husband's favorite, hehe. Instead we had, chicken, shrimp, quail eggs, cabbage, onions & baby corn pieces. We still have leftovers. :-)


Things I purchased from Phil-Am Foods to make the Pansit:

Pancit Canton Seasoning

Pancit Canton Noodles

Quail Eggs

March 6th was F.B.'s 1 year anniversary since he came to the USA. We celebrated by getting Chinese Takeout for dinner. :-)



We still have a ways to go with immigration though... around September I have to contact our immigration lawyer again. We will need to rehire him. It's going to cost around $1,500 to finish everything- (That's including our lawyer's fees). We have to file to remove the conditional status from F.B.'s green card which expires March 2013, but he needs to file for the I-751 90 days before his 2nd anniversary in the USA.

Evidence that will need to be submitted when we file our Form I-751 to remove the conditional status off F.B.'s permanent resident card:

1. A copy of the Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Card (both sides);

2. A copy of the Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Card of CR children included in the petition (if applicable);
 
3. Documents establishing joint ownership of property and/or joint tenancy at a communal residence;
 
4. Financial records showing the commingling of financial resources and liabilities, e.g., joint bank accounts, joint federal and state tax returns, insurance, utility bills, joint installments and/or loans;
 
5. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to the marriage (if applicable);
 
6. Affidavits of persons having knowledge of the good faith of the marriage; and
 
7. Photographs of the couple taken during the marriage.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

Roses from Hubby

The gift I got my husband!

From hubby :)